The US already has massive problems with cigarette smuggling. A cigarette prohibition would be devastating to tax coffers while pushing smokers toward what could become the world’s largest illicit market.
4 min read
Tax avoidance is a natural consequence of tax policy. Policymakers should consider the unintended consequences, both to public health and public coffers, of the excise taxes and regulatory regimes for cigarettes and other nicotine products.
5 min read
Lawmakers will enter the 2025 fiscal legislative session with an opportunity to build on the successes of the November special session. Efforts should include addressing the outstanding issues within the corporate and sales tax codes that currently hold the state back.
7 min read
Recent data suggest that tax competitiveness plays a significant role in residents’ relocation decisions.
3 min read
Growing cigarette tax levels and differentials have made cigarette smuggling both a national problem and a lucrative criminal enterprise.
16 min read
Tax reform in Alabama is desirable and very possible. However, the overtime exemption, which complicates the tax code, reduces neutrality, and adds to compliance and reporting costs, is not a good example.
4 min read
Policymakers can and should address taxpayers’ legitimate grievances about out-of-control property tax bills, but they should do so without upending a system of taxation that is more efficient, fair, and pro-growth, and better suited to municipal finance, than any of the alternatives.
39 min read
Due to the peculiar design of the proposed tax increase, it’s true: the largest tax increase Oregon has ever seen would create a substantial budget shortfall.
8 min read
Sports stadium subsidies are salient political gimmicks designed to appear as if politicians are providing tangible benefits to taxpayers. The empirical evidence shows repeatedly that stadium subsidies fail to generate new tax revenue and new jobs or attract new businesses.
6 min read
Under the tax created by Measure 118, Oregon businesses would be significantly disadvantaged against their larger and out-of-state rivals.
6 min read
Oregon’s Measure 118, though presented as a tax on big business, would function as an aggressive sales tax on consumers.
7 min read
Utah is the only state to earmark the entirety of one of its major taxes, but a measure on the ballot this November might change that.
4 min read
The sales tax is the second-largest source of state tax revenue and an important source of local tax revenue, but decades of base erosion threaten the tax’s share of overall revenue and have prompted years of countervailing rate increases.
72 min read
Eliminating the property tax will unfortunately set North Dakota back in significant ways, making the state a national outlier and eroding regional competitiveness.
6 min read
The latest IRS and Census data show that people and businesses favor states with low and structurally sound tax systems, which can impact the state’s economic growth and governmental coffers.
8 min read
States would do better to broaden the sales tax base to include currently exempt classes of final consumption than to impose disproportionate taxes on prepared foods.
6 min read
The recently released FY 2025 budget for New York State signals a degree of optimism, with caveats. New York cannot tax itself toward a balanced budget.
6 min read
Property taxes are the primary tool for financing local governments and generate a significant share of state and local revenues.
6 min read
Gov. Walz’s tax policy record is notable because of how much it contrasts with broader national trends. In recent years, most governors have championed tax cuts. Walz, rare among his peers, chose tax increases.
5 min read
Next year, West Virginians will see an income tax cut thanks to revenue triggers in a 2023 law. The Mountain State joins 14 other states that have cut income taxes this year.
4 min read